


Day Seventy-One || Absolute Discord

by 365daysofsasuhina



Series: 365 Days of SasuHina 2019 [71]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 14:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18096263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/365daysofsasuhina/pseuds/365daysofsasuhina
Summary: Take an internship at the Ministry, they said. It’ll be a learning experience, they said. You’ll have to beat future employers away with a stick, they told him! Yeah, right.





	Day Seventy-One || Absolute Discord

Take an internship at the Ministry, they said. It’ll be a learning experience, they said. You’ll have to beat future employers away with a stick, they told him!

Yeah, right.

Ministry work is  _ dreadfully _ boring. Of course, Sasuke could have guessed as much. An institution revolving around keeping order in a world that has anything  _ but _ order? Stressful, hectic...but still, in the long run, boring.

As an intern, he mostly just picks up any scrap of doing no one else wants to bother with that’s any step above custodial. Though they have a perfectly good messaging system, he’s often told to run and find so-and-so, and tell them this and that. Take these papers to what’s-his-name. Fetch me a fresh cup of tea!

He feels less like an employee, and more like a well-trained dog.

And he’s not the only one.

A handful of other students from his classes at Hogwarts have found work in the Ministry, too. Well...if you can really call it work. They’re hardly paid, especially considering the trouble they’re all put through. Most don’t stick it out for long, but one alongside himself has managed thus far.

Hinata Hyūga. Hufflepuff. He remembers her notoriety as an excellent student of herbology. What she’s doing in a place like this, he has no idea. But when it all comes down to it, he’s glad for the company. They run into each other (at times literally) more often than not as they scramble to keep up with their ‘work’. Elevator rides turn into brief flickers of harried conversation before they part again. And then eventually they start taking their lunches together. While they’d been acquaintances in school, Sasuke thinks he just might dare to call them friends, now.

At least,  _ he _ likes her. She’s sort of cute in a small, soft way. Still, she’s clearly very determined, keeping pace with the best of them, including himself. Why she deems him passable to converse with given his introversion and perhaps... _ darker _ aesthetic compared to her light and bouncy one, he has no idea.

But, either way, she keeps finding reason to talk to him, so...he takes that as a good sign.

And everything is going swimmingly...until disaster strikes.

While it’s no secret that the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department sees its share of odd and - at times - volatile cases, today seems to be shaping up to set a new record.

The pair are walking past a bit leisurely, in-between assignments, when a muffled report sounds out. And while not entirely unheard of on this floor, a kind of knowing stops them both in their tracks to listen.

Mistake.

After the groaning of straining wood builds to a peak, it suddenly snaps - literally - and the door of the office bursts apart. From within explode a plethora of flapping, and apparently angry, books.

Both light and dark eyes go wide, and - rather than try to confront the flock with magic - the pair take off down the corridor. In a matter of moments, the hall is in absolute discord. The sounds of flapping pages and snapping bindings are like a maelstrom of angry bird wings and beaks. Wizards and witches duck for cover, some attempting to fight back with petrifying spells, but to no avail. And more and more just keep pouring out of the office! It’s like they’re just...multiplying!

“Quick! I-in here!” Reaching for the nearest door, Hinata wrenches it open and whirls inside, Sasuke not far behind her. Pulling it closed (after shoving out a snapping tome), they both struggle to catch their breath. Even from in here, the sounds are raucous, each of them flinching as their coworkers squawk and scream in terror.

“What the bloody hell…?” Sasuke mutters, keeping a hand on the doorknob to make sure it doesn’t open again.

“I have  _ no  _ idea. Hopefully they find a way to stop them soon. It’s…”

Looking over his shoulder, Sasuke realizes that they’ve ended up in a closet. And a rather small one at that. So much so, he can barely turn around, and Hinata has to make herself small to keep from leaning on him.

“...a little crowded in here.”

“Er...yeah.” Pulling out his wand, Sasuke locks the door to keep it from being opened before those  _ things _ are subdued. It’s not like anyone else looking for cover is going to be able to find it here, anyway. All they’d manage would be to let the terror tomes in.

He then turns around, leaning against the door as she does the same to an overstocked supply shelf. Even now, there’s only a few inches between them - half a foot at best.

...awkward.

Each clearly doing their best to look anywhere but at their companion, a standoffish silence blooms, and grows.

“I, er...didn’t even know this was a closet,” Sasuke eventually mutters, trying to break the atmosphere.

“I - I didn’t, either. It was just the first door I s-saw.”

“Well, a hell of a lot better than being stuck out there in that.” His head jerks over his shoulder. It doesn’t sound any calmer out there yet.

That earns a nervous giggle. “Y-yeah, true.” Hinata’s nose wrinkles a bit. “...still, it smells awfully dusty in here. I...doubt this even gets used.”

“Doesn’t seem that way. More like...someplace to shove anything you’ve no idea what else to do with.”

“It does! I mean...l-look at this junk…” She gestures to what looks to be a broken clock, springs and coils hanging loosely out of its smashed face. “Why is this still here…?”

“No idea. But next time someone refuses the documents I lug halfway across the Ministry to them, they’re going in here.”

The Hyūga giggles, lifting a hand to bury the sound in her sleeve. 

A corner of Sasuke’s mouth twitches.

“I hope this doesn’t last too long...it’s almost lunch and I’m  _ starving _ .”

Glancing over his shoulder and listening, he shakes his head. “Still sounds like a madhouse out there.”

“Lovely…” Shifting a bit, Hinata flinches.

“...you all right?”

“Yeah, just…” She half-turns, fiddling with some of the artefacts. “Something keeps poking me…”

“Want to trade places?”

“No, no...then  _ you’d _ have it prodding you.”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Well, I can handle it too!”

Sasuke just snorts. “You could turn around.”

“It seems rude to turn my back on you. And then I’d have nothing to lean on…”

“...better than something jabbing you in the back?”

She just gives him a pout.

“Could lean on  _ me _ , you know. I’m not thin enough to be bonier than a rack full of who-knows-what.”

Color flushes into Hinata cheeks. “I -! But I d-don’t want to impose, and -”

“How is it imposing if  _ I’m _ the one proposing it?” Sasuke counters, giving her a look. “For Pete’s sake, Hyūga, just -”

“All right, all right!” Clearly still flustered, there’s a moment of hesitation before she does a half turn, leaning a shoulder against his chest and looking toward the back of the closet.

“There, see? No one’s dead.”

She just gives a small scoff, still pink-cheeked.

With that, they fall into an impasse. Sasuke keeps his head turned to the door to listen, and Hinata just...stands there. But slowly, her stiffened posture relaxes, and Sasuke even feels her nestle a bit more comfortably against him.

Then,  _ finally _ , the shouts of spells start to overtake the flapping. Apparently someone’s found something that stops the bloody things. He feels her also turn her head, and then...glorious silence.

“...well, I think that’s done it,” he notes, ear still to the door.

“Ugh, finally…”

Sighing, Sasuke pauses, and then...realizes she’s not moving. And he...can’t really get up until she does. Giving her a glance, he finds her still reclined against his front. “Well, er...I guess we should get back to it…?”

“...yes, I suppose you’re right.” There’s a shy glance up to him, and then -

the door opens up behind them.

“Wha-?”

“Whoa!”

Tumbling to the floor, Hinata lands atop him with a grunt, the pair of them flat out from the closet and surrounded by the Ministry workers who - assumedly - put an end to the entire fiasco.

A throat clears.

Blooming red, Sasuke lets Hinata handle the scrambling to get up first, knowing he’d only make it harder with his own squirming. She dusts herself off as another wizard offers Sasuke a hand up.

“Well,” a rather staunch-looking witch offers, arms crossed and peering down her nose at them. “I see  _ someone _ made use of a hiding place during this little distraction. How...fortuitous.”

“Oh, n-no!” Hinata insists, waving her hands. “We - w-we were just trying to get away, and then -”

“Spare me your explanations,” the elder woman sighs, waving a hand of her own dismissively. “You can help with the cleanup to make amends for ducking and covering while the  _ rest of us _ dealt with problem.”

Clearly chastised, Hinata hangs her head as Sasuke looks over the battlefield. He’s never seen so many torn pieces of parchment in one room…

“The rest of you, please get back to your duties. Let the rookies handle the aftermath.” Giving a sniff, she leads the rest away, and the pair are left alone.

“...well, that was  _ lovely _ ,” Sasuke mutters. “What else were we supposed to do? Like anyone else wasn’t cowering in their office?”

“I’m sorry...I-I led you in there…”

“If it hadn’t have been you, it would have been me. It was the only sensible thing to do! They just saw how we were, and just assumed that - that we were -!”

Hinata glances aside, pink again. “...it...it  _ d-did _ look rather...um...suggestive, didn’t it?”

He just scoffs. “Well  _ sure _ , but -”

“Just...never mind it, Sasuke. Let’s get this cleaned up, and...pretend this never happened…”

Scowling for a moment longer, Sasuke still notices the slight downward lilt of her voice. “...are you all right?”

“I...I just...h-haven’t been in trouble yet, so…” Still she avoids his eyes, walking out into the paper massacre.

That is, until he grabs her wrist.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing’s wrong.” Hinata gives a small tug. “Please Sasuke…”

“Look, I’ll explain what happened to them - don’t worry about it. I’ll clear it up, and your reputation will be fine -”

“I’m not w-worried about my reputation!”

That balks him back slightly, losing his grip on her arm, which she hugs against herself with its pair.

“...I...I shouldn’t have done that.”

“...done what?”

Color gets darker in her cheeks. “T...touch you like, l-like that. It was...it was inappropriate.”

He blinks. “...Hyūga, nothing  _ happened _ . We were just...standing there!”

Hinata’s form tenses a bit more, and...something seems to click. All her blushing. Not getting up when the books went quiet. Her embarrassment at the insinuation, but...no denial.

She…?

“...I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to m-make this into such a mess. I just...I couldn’t…” Hands cover her face.

“...hey.”

Nothing.

“Hey!”

A small peek.

“I’m not mad, Hinata. Really, I’m not.” A hand brushes back through his hair with a sigh, not bothering to correct his slip of names. “...if anything, I…” Not it’s his turn to flush across the bridge of his nose. “...I didn’t...mind.”

“...you…?”

“Maybe I was even a little glad. Because in all honesty? You’re the only reason I’m still here doing this  _ bloody _ awful job.”

Surprise slackens her face, and her hands fall from her cheeks.

Staring stubbornly to one side, he admits, “...you make it bearable. Getting to talk to you, and walk with you...it’s been nice. I was glad you didn’t quit like the others. Cuz then...I would have too. I don’t need this job. Really, I don’t. But…” Sasuke risks a glance back. “...but...I  _ do _ need you.”

_...God that was sappy as hell, she’s going to - _

Balking, Sasuke stumbles back half a step as she leaps and latches onto him tightly. Arms out for balance, it takes a moment to embrace her back, too surprised.

“...I-I feel the same way…!”

His expression lightens. “You…?”

Hinata laughs, letting him set her down. “...w-we’re both idiots, aren’t we?”

“...yeah. Guess we are.” He glances aside. “...idiots with a hell of a mess to -”

Smiling wryly, Hinata gives a wave of her wand from her pocket, and the parchment begins to sort itself out, other debris seeming to go backward in time as they right themselves.

“...I took a housekeeping class,” she sniffs at his look.

“...you’re brilliant, you know that?”

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh, this got...really long compared to most entries for this challenge, but I just...couldn't stop writing, I liked it too well xD
> 
> I don't cross Naruto and Harry Potter as much as I likely should. Though I loved HP growing up, it sort of...lost its spark for me as I got older (and JK got a bit more...ridiculous). So I'm not often inspired for it. But this phrase gave me this scene in my head, and I couldn't NOT write it. And then it got a bit fluffier than intended at the end, but that's never a bad thing!
> 
> They might find themselves stuffed in closets more often from now on ;3
> 
> Aaanyway, it's...very late, and I'm very tired, so that's all from me. Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!


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